Whereas Oleksandr Bondarev is having fun with a burgeoning profession in karting as the primary Ukrainian signed to a Formulation One group, it has additionally been a troublesome interval for him as his nation continues to struggle in opposition to Russian invasion. In an interview with Tribuna.com, Bondarev mentioned he felt a “large shock” at every thing that transpired again residence and is grateful that his groups have his again.
“I’m Ukrainian, was born in Kyiv, my entire household is from Ukraine,” he started. “I attempt to help my nation in such troublesome instances. I climb onto each podium with the Ukrainian flag, and I additionally took half within the Race for Ukraine charity run in England.”
When the full-scale invasion started on 24 February 2022, Bondarev was in Italy—the place he at present lives along with his mom—to compete within the inaugural Champions of the Future Winter Sequence‘ season opener at Franciacorta Karting Monitor. Observe happened the identical day of the invasion’s begin; he completed second within the OK Junior class’s Tremendous Warmth two days later adopted by twenty-eighth within the Ultimate after being pressured off beam on the ultimate lap.
“My mom woke me up at seven within the morning and informed me what had occurred,” mentioned Bondarev. “I had an enormous shock as a result of my dad was in Ukraine, so I felt a sort of powerlessness. However I needed to settle for actuality as it’s, and I consistently saved in contact with my father.”
Regardless of the circumstances, he does discover some solace in his WSK groups Prema Racing and Kart Republic in addition to Williams Racing lending their help. Williams signed Bondarev to their Driver Academy final September, shortly after he received the 2023 CIK-FIA Karting European Championship in OK Junior. As soon as the 2024 karting season ends, Williams intend to ease Bondarev into system racing by competing within the Italian F4 Championship and the Formulation 4 UAE Championship.
“Most likely the most important help comes from Williams, which confirms how appropriate my selection was (to signal with them),” he commented.
Bondarev can be maybe lucky that he has not needed to speak a lot with different Russian drivers or group personnel. Most worldwide sporting our bodies positioned restrictions on Russian athletes shortly after the invasion, although some since loosened their insurance policies to permit them to compete with a distinct nationality. The FIA permits Russian and Belarusian drivers to race underneath their sanction however provided that they condemn the warfare and use a impartial flag.
Consequently, there are numerous situations of Ukrainians protesting occasions whereby they’d go up in opposition to a Russian or rebuking them afterwards. With Russians permitted on the upcoming Summer time Olympics (albeit as “Particular person Impartial Athletes”), Ukraine’s Olympic Committee warned its opponents to keep away from contact with them. Within the racing world, Ukrainian Dakar Rally veteran Vadim Pritulyak boycotted a spherical of the Abu Dhabi Baja Problem in January during which the Russian and fellow Dakar alumnus Sergei Kariakin additionally participated.
“After the full-scale invasion started, I’ve virtually no communication with them,” Bondarev acknowledged. “If I’m pressured to speak to somebody, it is just due to the race, however typically, communication, if any, is minimal. Personally, nobody approaches on their initiative, both they ignore [the war] or faux that nothing occurred.”
In March, he made a visitor look on the Underground LIVE stand-up programme to fundraise for a reconnaissance drone that may be donated to the Second Worldwide Legion of Defence of Ukraine. The trouble is led by Olexandr Petrenko, deputy chairman of the Ukrainian Karting Committee, and included raffling off a cap autographed by F1 nice Michael Schumacher that went for over USD$40,000 (€37,276, or roughly ₴1.6 million).
Bondarev is at present ninth within the FIA’s Worldwide Karting Rating.
